The present invention relates to an agricultural working machine.
Publication EP 1 321 025 discloses a combine harvester with an automatic control unit for regulating the forward-travel speed. The control unit changes the forward-travel speed to control the throughput of the combine harvester and is activated as soon as a layer-thickness detector detects the arrival of crop material in a conveying device of the combine harvester.
The disadvantage of this known harvesting machine is that the automatic control changes the forward-travel speed abruptly when the combine harvester enters the crop and the forward-travel regulator is switched on. With known combine harvesters, the forward-travel regulator remains on when the combine harvester leaves the crop or travels through gaps in the field, and it accelerates the combine harvester in order to compensate for the reduced throughput. The driver deactivates the automatic control in these cases and regulates the ground speed manually, e.g., to turn the combine harvester around at the end of the field at an adjusted ground speed. The abrupt change in the ground speed that occurs when the working machine enters or exits the crop often results in overreactions by the driver, who brakes the combine harvester to a standstill as quickly as possible, which causes the combine harvester to rock back and forth. It is also a disadvantage that the combine harvester is not accelerated or decelerated to an optimum entry speed before it enters the crop.